Vintage postcard with a look at how we view our first president: on a horse!
George Washington is a sort of bronze figure in our nation's memory: a bit of an unsmiling stiff. The kind of figure we see as a sculpture sitting on a horse in a park. It is difficult to illuminate his personality.
One way to get a view of the real man is to read some of his diaries, the transcriptions of which are now available on the web site of the Library of Congress. Washington kept diaries all his life.
George Washington was raised in old Virginia on the Potomac River--when there were virgin forests and rich land all around him. He was tall and intelligent and seemed to have been a natural leader of men. His life was filled with blessings.
Great teeth, however, were not among them.
He began to lose his teeth early in life, something in his diaries he attributes to his youthful habit of cracking walnuts with his teeth. Modern dentists speculate that he was much more likely to have lost his teeth due to periodontal disease than walnut-cracking.
But, back in the eighteenth century, nobody knew enough about preventive dentistry to remind America's first president that he needed to floss.
In truth, by the time George Washington was elected to office in 1789, though he was not yet sixty years old, it was far too late for flossing. By then he had no teeth left at all (some researchers think he had one tooth left, but that's pretty much the same thing). So, he wore a complete set of dentures.
Many American's have gotten the idea that his teeth were made of wood, but that isn't so. According to Mt. Vernon historians, they were actually made of a combination of cow's teeth, human teeth, and elephant ivory, set in a lead base. And if that doesn't sound unpleasant enough, they also didn't fit well, and the two plates were connected with springs that allowed him to open and close his mouth. Bo-ing!
It is no wonder he isn't smiling in his portraits.
The Smithsonian Institution has Washington's battle sword and his uniform at the National Museum of American History. But the museum collection of Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, can claim the only complete set of his dentures.
The teeth are periodically on display there, and though it may sound like a peculiar thing to look for at a museum, they're worth seeing if you are in the nation's capitol nearby. They are certainly a means one might use to frighten children into remembering to brush.
And, they are a sort of sweet commentary on George Washington. If it is true, as legend has it, that he could not tell a lie, then these may have been the only thing false about the Father of Our Country.
A vintage Washington's Birthday postcard from the collection of Russell Hughes
of Orlando, Florida.
Most of our founding fathers, George Washington included, were born under the Julian calendar, but died under the Gregorian: so the days of their birth shifted in the middle of their lives.
George Washington's original birth year was 1731.
The Julian calendar was established by Julius Caesar, 46 years before the birth of Christ, and for more than fifteen centuries it was the standard calendar used in the West: and by some countries in the East as well. Caesar established a year that was 364 1/4 days long, designed to synchronize with a complete cycle of the Earth's seasons.
But his year was eleven minutes, fourteen seconds too slow, which didn't mean much at first. But by the sixteenth century, the date that marked the New Year--which was then the first day of spring--was ten days behind the vernal equinox.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII consulted with scientists and devised a calendar so accurate that it is still in use today. Called the Gregorian calendar in his honor, it creates leap years, which add one day to the calendar every four years, except on centennial years--unless the year is divisible by four.
He then decreed that the New Year would henceforth begin January 1, instead of March 21; and to get the calendar caught up with the seasons, he told everybody they were going to have to lose ten days in the process.
October 4, 1582, would be followed by October 15, 1582. Since he was the Pope he could order this sort of thing and have it happen. Well, almost.
By the sixteenth century, the West was no longer entirely Roman Catholic. The Reformation had swept Europe, the Orthodox churches in the East followed their own calendar, and it consequently took several centuries for the new calendar to be widely adopted.
George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers were all caught up in the change. Britain and her colonies finally adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, and by that time they had to add eleven days to make it come out right.
September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752. George Washington, who was 21 at the time, got a new birth date. The original date of his birth, February 11, 1731 (now called O.S. for Old Style) was changed to February 22, 1732 (now called N.S. for New Style). The change of the year, came because Washington was born between January--when the New Year now began--and March--when the New Yard had begun (O.S.)
George Washington kept a diary his entire life and imagine how confusing it was for him! A full five years before the switch, a teenage GW made a diary entry dated Fryday, March 11th 1747/8. It suggests the upcoming change was already on his mind.
What happened, do you suppose, to the eleven days everyone in America lost in 1752? And here's another question: Washington died in 1799. Was he 68 when he died? Or 67?
People in the U.S. began honoring our first president's birthday during his lifetime and the celebrations varied even then. Some were held on the 11th of February and some on the 22nd. This is another vintage card from the Russell Hughes collection.
The U.S. Archives has transcribed all of George Washington's diaries and has them available now On Line. One of the most fascinating things you can do is to read through them and learn more about the life of this remarkable man.
